Marathon's Hernstadt will be Marco Island's new city manager

Marco Island was fortunate to find a candidate in the person of Roger Hernstadt who met the major criteria sought in a new city manager, said city council Vice-Chairman Larry Sacher.

Hernstadt was selected to fill the post in a unanimous vote at Monday's special City Council meeting. He is currently the city manager for the Florida Keys community of Marathon. Hernstadt will be paid $219,000 a year, which includes a base salary of $155,000 and benefits.

When he officially assumes the post on Feb. 2, Hernstadt will replace interim City Manager Guillermo Polanco, who will return to his position as Marco's finance director. Polanco accepted the interim job in October, replacing Jim Riviere, who held the position for three years before vacating it last Sept. 30.

He is a former assistant city manager for Miami who came there after a 30 year career in public administration with Miami-Dade County.

Monday's meeting began with two candidates vying to become Marco's city manager. However, one of them, Calvin Peck, city manager for Bald Head Island, N.C., dropped out after council's initial vote on the candidates saw him win out 4-3 over Hernstadt.

A second vote was required because Marco's city charter requires a "super majority" – a minimum of five votes – when hiring a city manager, said Council Chairman Ken Honecker.

Hernstadt has served as Marathon's city manager for the last four years. Like Marco, Marathon is a beach community that became a city 15 years ago with a full-time population of about 10,000 during the off-season, a figure that swells to about 30,000 when the snowbirds return.

"I think we are very lucky in that not only did Roger's qualifications match up with what most of us felt was important, but Marathon is practically a mirror image of Marco Island," said Sacher, who backed Hernstadt in the initial vote. "No disrespect to Calvin Peck, who I think could also have done a fantastic job."

Council's criteria stressed such things as being a city manager in Florida, particularly of a coastal city and having an extensive background in city and county government, said Sacher.

He was also impressed by Hernstadt's membership in the International City/County Management Association, the worldwide professional association for appointed local government administrators, because of its continuing education programs.

Both candidates attended Monday's meeting, with Hernstadt joined by his wife, attorney Jessica Hernstadt. Each man fielded a battery of questions from individual councilmen that addressed their professional experience and approach to the job.

Hernstadt cited his experience handling hurricanes and securing FEMA grants, erecting a new wastewater plant and a new fire station in Marathon and securing Federal funding for those projects, as well as personal meetings he's had with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla), and Florida's governor, Rick Scott.

The Brooklyn native said he believes in having weekly meetings with individual councilmen and in producing written reports on the performance of each city department for council.

He also said that when action is required on a matter, that he believes in providing council with "well thought out options with a list of pros and cons. That's something that staff, including myself, owes to council and frankly, what I think council owes to the citizens."

Peck, who has no experience as a public administrator in Florida, withdrew during a 10-minute break council took after its initial vote. Honecker announced that Peck had withdrawn his candidacy because he believes council should be unanimous when hiring a city manager.

Honecker said Tuesday that he's glad to see a conclusion to a rocky process that included the dismissal of one management hunting firm and the resignation of another.

"The important thing is we have a city manager," said Honecker. "That was my goal at last night's meeting, was to get a professional city manager in place for the first time in four years and we have accomplished that."

REPORTED EARLIER:

Marco Island now has a new city manager.

Roger Hernstadt, the current the city manager of Marathon in the Florida Keys, was hired unanimously by Marco Island City Council Monday evening. He will be paid $219,000 a year, which includes a base salary of $155,000 and benefits.

When he officially assumes the post on Feb. 2, Hernstadt will replace interim City Manager Guillermo Polanco, who will return to his position as Marco's finance director. Polanco accepted the interim job in October, replacing Jim Riviere, who held the position for three years.

Hernstadt has been Marathon's city manager for four years. He is a former assistant city manager for Miami who came there after a 30-year career in public administration for Miami-Dade County.

Monday's meeting began with two candidates vying to become Marco's city manager. But Calvin Peck, city manager for Bald Head Island, N.C., dropped out after council's initial vote on the candidates saw him win out 4-3 over Hernstadt.

A second vote was required because Marco's city charter requires a "super majority" — a minimum of five votes — when hiring a city manager, said Council Chairman Ken Honecker.

Council then took a roughly 10 minute break before voting again and when the meeting reconvened, Honecker announced that Peck had withdrawn his candidacy because he believes council should be unanimous when hiring a city manager.